Skilled migrants are told they’re needed in New Zealand, they’re inspired to make a difference.
Continuing in our series of Migrant Tales, first hand accounts of the migrant experience of New Zealand.
Today’s tale was sent in by an anonymous American migrant – a highly skilled and sought after professional, the very sort of migrant that New Zealand is eager to attract and retain.
This migrant is eager too – eager to have his say about life in New Zealand; and hoping that others may take something useful from the messages it contains.
We’re publishing it to demonstrate the reasons why migrant turnover is so high in New Zealand, and as a guide for prospective migrants who may be moving to New Zealand to ‘make a difference’ and wondering why the country seems to have such a positive image
Many immigration sites manipulate material to present what appears to be a ‘balanced’ view of New Zealand. Bear this in mind, immigration sites exist solely to make money from migrants. This site doesn’t make a cent and never will.
Goodbye New Zealand
“I must begin by thanking you for the magnificent blog that you have created and the enormous time, energy, and dedication that you devote to it. You will undoubtedly deter many well meaning but credulous migrants from coming to New Zealand. In addition, your blog has provided me with solace knowing that my experiences here are not unique.
Admittedly, it is disheartening to read that others have encountered similar travails because I do not delight in the suffering of others. However, I confess that I enjoyed reading your blog’s tales for they confirm much of what I had observed and experienced in my nearly three years here. When reading your blog, I felt like Winston Smith in 1984 finding out that Julia was also a fellow thought criminal who thought exactly as he did about the insanitary world in which they both dwelt.
At any rate, I sold a relatively profitable small business in the United States and migrated to New Zealand in 2010 at age 27. The main reason I left was that I felt that the United States faced an irreversible economic and social decline. America was no longer a free country and the government was tyrannical in many ways, as evidenced by Edward Snowden’s recent revelations. I had also grown tired of the appalling stupidity and ignorance of large swathes of the population and I saw that the United States was becoming an increasingly dysfunctional society. The government in the US is bankrupt and living on borrowed time.
By comparison, New Zealand and Australia had comparatively low levels of debt and the economies weathered the Global Financial Crisis relatively well thanks to their export linkages to Asia. Although I obtained working holiday visas for both countries, I opted to stay in New Zealand because of its natural beauty and my hatred of hot weather.
I came here and I easily obtained a job, although it was a couple steps back from where I was professionally in my former business. Initially, I figured that as a migrant I would have to suck it up and take a step back to move forward, so I did not mind. Furthermore, I did not want to deplete my savings and investments waiting for the “perfect job” or business opportunity. My goal at this stage was to find a job that I could leverage into permanent residency and would provide me with an income whilst I decided on what sort of business I would like to buy or start. I thought it prudent to wait for six months and familiarise myself with the situation on the ground before embarking on a business venture.
My first job in New Zealand was ok, although I found the work culture strange. The people in management viewed me suspiciously because I knew a great deal more than they did. I understood that a certain subset of Kiwis has a visceral and irrational hatred towards Americans, so I tended to be discrete and quiet to avoid eliciting antipathy.
I found it odd that so many called in sick on a Friday or before a long weekend. Kiwis also tended to be very slack and sloppy workers. The managers at the company tended to be idiots whose sole virtue was that they had managed to outlast their peers in an excruciatingly stifling environment or were mates of other managers. It did not concern me too much because I simply needed an income whilst I found a business. However, I did focus on doing a good job because I knew the importance of creating and safeguarding a reputation for excellence.
Eventually, the company had an “Investments Challenge”. I worked in the investments field in the US before I bought my own company, so I thought it presented an opportunity to prove my talents and I thought that it could translate into moving to their investments team. Ultimately, I won and trounced the local “financial advisers”. In fact, they changed the competition’s rules half way through because I made their highly remunerated “financial advisers” look bad. I won the competition along with $100 gift card. Subsequently, I applied for a position as an “adviser” with that company, but I did not have the “right experience”. I also asked my team leader for the company to pay for training so that I could become an Authorised Financial Adviser, but she declined.
In any event, I eventually left that company after suffering the indignity of a Kiwi “performance review”. Apparently, I “made too many errors”. However, my insipid boss failed to comprehend that I also had the highest productivity and on some days did twice the volume of work compared to other people. It never occurred to her that perhaps a system of errors per a certain number of transactions was a better metric than absolute errors. The sole basis for determining “errors” was the number of times another employee had contacted a manager to complain about a mistake made by another colleague. Often, no one ever bothered to confirm whether the mistake had happened. Whenever I found errors, I simply fixed them and gave the other employee a heads up rather than telling a manager. The strange thing about it was that another team at the company had voted me as the most helpful employee. In addition, my colleagues, and even my boss, had raved about the quality of my work until this performance review. My boss was an overweight, insipid, and highly insecure woman. I suspect she revelled in criticising other people to compensate for her own obvious shortcomings.
During the review, I raised the defects in the performance review system, but my boss was impervious to reason and had no grasp of statistics. The next day I wrote a scathing resignation letter and set her straight. I left that company and went to work for the government. I instantly saw even greater incompetence and knavery than I did at the private company in New Zealand. The public sector was rife with nepotism and outright corruption. I had hitherto swallowed the Kool-Aid about New Zealand being free from corruption, but eventually learned the lamentable truth.
What astounded me about the public sector was the number of barely literate and unaccomplished people in senior positions. The place barely functioned. People showed up late and did little work. Government contracts went to companies owned by the spouse or sibling of someone senior at the government department without anyone declaring the conflict. Too often, the people providing these services were outright incompetents and the rates they charged bordered on thievery.
This time, I opted to raise my concerns directly with management because I felt I had a duty to the taxpayer from whom the government forcibly exacted taxes. The managers generally ignored what I told them or simply promised to look at it and did nothing. I even spoke to the Minister whose job it was to oversee the department, but he ignored me as well. I eventually learned that the Minister was an analphabet glutton that could barely write.
I eventually reached the point where I would just confront them in front of other people. This earned the admiration of my colleagues, who voted me the employee of the month. My managers just tended not to respond and walk away or concoct some inane excuse reflective of their lack of brains. Kiwis are unable to argue a position cogently or even stand up for themselves if you prove them wrong, but they find ways to sabotage you by stabbing you in the back when you are not looking.
Nepotism and corruption are endemic in the New Zealand government. The notion that New Zealand is free from corruption is a carefully orchestrated facade perpetrated by Transparency New Zealand. The government funds Transparency New Zealand, which then tells Transparency International that New Zealand has no corruption. Believe me, New Zealand is a highly corrupt place. The difference is that New Zealanders are in denial about what is blatantly obvious to any impartial person.
Ultimately, I left and went to another quasi public company. My time there was also unhappy. I worked in a small office with two useless women. They spent most of their time gossiping about people and running down everyone. One was my manager and the other was in an equivalent position. However, my manager told the one in the equivalent position to mine that I earned more. The people that made the decision to hire me were some managers above my manager rather than my manager, so there was some resentment and insecurity. For some inexplicable reason, she disliked me from the first day. I had brought some leftover birthday cake on my first day, but she immediately jokingly described it as a “bribe”. I suppose humour conceals a person’s sentiments.
The lack of professionalism here was shocking. I remember that the two witches at the office would withhold vital information from me. For instance, the copy machine had a code, but they never bothered telling me what the code was until I requested it. It was a subtle form of bullying because they both felt that I would demonstrate their ineptitude or quickly show how incompetent they were. My manager assigned pointless tasks that were not a part of the job description. I do not mind cleaning toilets or doing grunt work, but doing stupid jobs to waste time irked me. I eventually realised the pointlessness of living in New Zealand and resigned once my Kiwi wife and I decided to emigrate.
I cannot complain too much, as I always had work. I wrongly attributed some of my early troubles to the GFC etc, but I quickly learned that the problems were systemic and often unique to New Zealand. Furthermore, the salaries I earned were high by international standards for the sort of work I did given the high Kiwi Dollar at present. Unfortunately, I did take a step back professionally. I am very frugal and I still managed to save and invest properly, so I am leaving New Zealand with more than what I had when I arrived. Nonetheless, neither my wife nor I could see a scenario where we could raise a family comfortably if I were the sole breadwinner.
My objective in New Zealand from the outset was to go into business and I put up with working in these environments until I found the right business. I searched extensively trying to find a business to buy or start that made sense to no avail. My conclusion is that New Zealand is largely bereft of genuine business opportunities where one can make a reasonable living providing quality goods and services to people. I think this way for several reasons.
First, Kiwis overestimate the value of the “good will” in a business. For example, I found a small tour business for sale for NZ $150,000. According to the books, the business made NZ $50,000 net profit per year, less than I made at my job. The only assets that came with the business were two old vehicles in need of massive maintenance worth about NZ $20,000.
A business like that in the United States would probably sell for about NZ $50,000. I actually “inspected” the business out of curiosity by following the bus one day and I noticed only several passengers. Clearly, a business like that was not making money and the owner was looking for a sucker, perhaps a migrant, who would pay a fortune for nothing.
I saw an advert for a business that made NZ $20,000 in net profit and the owner wanted NZ $200,000. It had a boat worth $50,000 as an asset. Likewise, I saw a “profitable cafe” on sale for NZ $120,000. The facilities were so poor and the cafe so empty that I never bothered asking for the books. I learned a few months later that a retired dairy farmer bought it, but he was operating at a loss and the business floundered.
I also explored the idea of buying a franchise, but it made no sense from a business standpoint. Most franchises were no name companies that wanted a large fee for buying the right to some region whilst skimming off a sizeable percentage of the sales. The franchisee would make me drum up business and do all the hustling, whilst the parasites at the franchise mooched off the profits.
The more reputable franchises were equally dubious. I explored the idea of buying a Dominos Pizza. The start-up costs were around NZ $400,000 and the annual net profit was around NZ $70,000 if the owner worked it himself seven days per week. Clearly, it made no sense to “buy a job” under these circumstances.
One peril to look out for is that some business sellers falsify their figures to lure unsuspecting buyers into handing their cash. In fact, some businesses will trade for a year, the owner will even pay tax to the IRD based on fictitious earnings, and then try to hawk the business to an unsuspecting buyer, often a cashed up migrant, who will then find out that the vendor swindled him out of money. If he tries to go to court, then he will find the legal system exists to protect the criminal, who often is a relation of the judge that will hear the case. The judge will refuse to recuse himself because New Zealand does not have corruption! New Zealand claims to be free from fraud, but these sorts of frauds are common. The enforcement mechanisms here are practically nonexistent and the lax sentencing for crimes only incentivises criminal behaviour.
The reason I bring up these examples is to inform prospective entrepreneurial migrants of the absence of suitable business opportunities here. A friend of mine living in Australia has also looked at buying a business and the environment is similarly treacherous, except the taxes in Australia are higher. The one benefit that Australia has is a larger market and higher real wages.
One other thing that people need to be aware is that New Zealand has a handful of untouchable cartels such as Fletchers, Fonterra, or the largely Australian owned banks and insurer that enjoy virtual monopolies/oligopolies within the country. An unholy alliance exists between them and the government that is redolent of the oligarchies of Ukraine.
For example, the government provided [redacted] with a contract to repair [dedacted] houses in Christchurch following the earthquake without a competitive tendering process. [redacted] have fleeced EQC and it has done some frighteningly shoddy work. [redacted] also control many of the smaller companies that supply building materials. Anyone that tries to compete with these established players quickly finds themselves the target of tax audits or regulatory harassment.
Similarly, the state owns many of the power companies. The state charges extortionate prices for power and then the power companies pay dividends to the state. The high power prices are an insidious indirect tax. Electricity is triple what it is in Europe or North America. Aside from the gouging, poor public policy hinders production. As an aside, the government recently gave a subsidiary of Rio Tinto NZ $30 million to keep the Tiwai Aluminium smelter open along with lower power charges. Businesses that are too big to fail receive subsidies at the expense of the consumer and small business.
Overall, I would summarise the Kiwi work ethic as shocking. The only area where Kiwis excel is in their ability to waste time at the workplace. As a former business owner, I found it appalling how many pointless meetings took place and how little time people devoted to productive work. With such low productivity, it should come as no surprise that New Zealand lags behind economically. The inefficiencies and incompetence ultimately manifest themselves in the high prices people pay and poor quality that people receive. Incidentally, the Productivity Commission did a report on New Zealand productivity and found that, on average, the typical New Zealand worker works 15% more hours than the OECD average, but is 20% less productive. New Zealand’s productivity is similar to places like Slovenia, Greece, or Israel.
Many “professional” Kiwis also lack skills in their respective disciplines. For example, I have met several “investment professionals” who do not know basic things about their industry. Similarly, most builders in this country have less aptitude than would an apprentice in Europe or the United States. Kiwis like to describe themselves as easygoing and laidback, but this is actually a euphemism for sloppiness and lack of competence. Working hard incurs the wrath of the local Kiwis who seem not to understand that industry is a virtue. If you want something done properly, then hire a migrant. Likewise, if you want to buy something after 6:00 pm, go to the dairy owned by the Chinese or Indian. They are willing to work hard and they will smile at you as a customer. In contrast, Kiwis working in retail or customer service treat you like garbage. They have no idea how to treat customers or an understanding that the customer makes their job possible.
Aside from the incompetence at work, I find the people highly arrogant and insipid. Analphabetism is rife amongst Kiwis and even “educated” people seem not to possess a firm grasp of English. Most people cannot discuss anything of substance. Rather, the rugby, the weather, and binge drinking occupy most conversations.
I have had the “privilege” to meet several New Zealand politicians. My impression of them is they are the perfect embodiment of their constituents. Aside from one (Don Brash), I found all of them highly uncultured and opportunistic parasites, irrespective of political party. Several had a dishevelled appearance and none of them was particularly articulate or lettered. Admittedly, politicians are rarely the brightest and best in any society, but the motley lot of “political leaders” in New Zealand is appalling. Most have very little knowledge of public policy or the world around them. It is frightening to fathom that the country is in the hands of these cretins.
A great many Kiwis describe themselves as “educated”. However, this so-called education is devoid of any substance, but rather, is a pernicious form of pseudo intellectualism masquerading as erudition. Many of these individuals have university degrees, typically in the humanities or social sciences and develop an immeasurable and unhealthy conceit inversely proportional to their actual knowledge and achievements.
A short conversation with them reveals the absence of any breadth or depth to their learning. Many cannot spell, use grammar properly, or add basic figures. Despite the oft-repeated claims of “Kiwi ingenuity” or Kiwi’s misplaced belief in their own practical talents, none of them can actually build something useful or take apart an engine. Intelligence is subjective and comes in many forms. For instance, some compose great poetry, others can design, whilst others can write, and others know how to make money. Regrettably, it is difficult to locate any area where Kiwi mental faculties are superlative. If Kiwis were half as good at finding solutions to problems as they are at concocting rubbish justifications and making excuses, New Zealand would be the most advanced and prosperous country in the world.
Incidentally, I have never met a single Kiwi that could speak a foreign language, except those whose parents were foreigners. However, I recall one colleague at work reverentially extol the importance of knowing how to pronounce Maori place names correctly. Kiwi education seems to place an unhealthy importance on the Maori language and culture and reveres it as if it were as worthy of adulation as ancient Greece. Admittedly, Maori people have every right to want to connect to their ancestral language. However, it is far more important for children to learn a useful language such as Chinese or Spanish over Maori. Interestingly, a Maori lady I know who speaks Maori fluently agrees with me, but the leftist politically correct white Kiwis seem not to have grasped the indispensability of knowing another language. Incidentally, I speak Spanish and German fluently, but this was not nearly as important as having “local knowledge” for one tourism position I applied for, a trite phrase that Kiwis employ when they need to concoct an excuse for why they do not want to hire or promote a migrant. I guess knowledge of major international languages is unimportant in the tourism field!
The level of literacy, numeracy, and overall functionality is quite low. New Zealanders love to mock the ignorance of Americans, but they fail to realise how intellectually vacuous they are. Despite the stupidity of the average American, the top 10% in the United States is far cleverer and more talented than the top 10% in New Zealand, most of whom have left overseas for precisely the same reasons as me. For all its flaws, the United States still manages to attract and reward highly capable people.
New Zealanders gluttonously consume the most mind numbing and degenerate American entertainment. Youths listen to disgusting American rap or watch mindless drivel whilst ignoring most of what happens at the Beehive (the nickname for New Zealand’s Parliament). The news coverage here is on par with FOX News, except that it is rabidly left of centre. Aside from one reporter, New Zealand is devoid of investigative journalism. I usually watch BBC, RT, Al Jazeera because the local “news” is so poor.
The government owns much of the media in New Zealand and a few conglomerates control the advertising for what little media remains in private hands, so impartiality is non-existent. The media have little interest in international news, except a mass shooting in the United States, which the media invariably blames on guns rather than the demented underclass and sociopaths. The other international news item is the latest gossip surrounding the royal family.
Another thing that will annoy migrants about New Zealand is the appalling quality of the housing. Kiwis fancy themselves as a very practical lot, yet the building quality is atrocious. Virtually no houses have central heating, proper insulation, or double glazed windows. I have lived in Alaska and I have experienced -40C cold. However, this did little to prepare me for damp, mouldy, and cold New Zealand houses. I do not regard myself a hands-on person, but I could probably design and construct a better house compared to what the local builders can erect.
Perhaps the only thing worse than the poor quality houses is the exorbitant price. The median house price in Auckland is over NZ $600,000 and a $600,000 is junk. This is nearly ten times the median household income. The house prices are high for several reasons.
First, Kiwis distrust share markets so they plough most savings into acquiring rental properties. This artificially inflates the demand for housing. In addition, interest rates are higher in New Zealand, so foreign hedge funds etc borrow money in Japan at 0.5% and lend to New Zealand banks at 3%. This provides a glut of money for banks to lend for housing because Kiwis have no interest in borrowing to buy productive assets such as businesses.
Many of these international hedge funds have contributed to the high value of the New Zealand Dollar. If a major financial shock occurs offshore, it is likely that they will pull money out of New Zealand in favour of the liquidity of the US Dollar or Euro. This will cause a major decline in the New Zealand Dollar and cause house prices to crash once the foreign cash disappears. New Zealand is a net debtor to the world and it lacks the domestic savings to finance high house prices, just as Spain, Portugal, and Greece did. The only internationally competitive sector is agriculture, which accounts for 60% of the country’s earnings despite only employing about 6% of people, yet public policy is firmly anti-farmer. The New Zealand economy is Third World in the sense that it is heavily reliant on soft commodities with little else in terms of internationally competitive economic sectors.
Second, local councils artificially constrain the supply of land. New Zealand’s population has grown from 3 million to 4.5 million over the past quarter century and much of this growth is in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch. Meanwhile, the urban boundaries have grown little. Consequently, house prices have exploded.
The landlords, including many politicians and local councillors that own rentals, do not want to add to the supply of land because it would reduce demand and the price of their assets. Similarly, Kiwis suckered into paying some of the world’s most expensive house prices because they foolishly believe that house prices always go up, do not wish to open up land. The regrettable thing is that this artificially created shortage has made it practically impossible for young people to own homes. New Zealand house prices are poised for an inevitable if not imminent collapse.
The third reason house prices are so high in this vampire economy is that Fletchers have a virtual monopoly on building materials. This means that building materials are much more expensive than they are overseas.
Fourth, Kiwis are lazy and inefficient workers. Their minds cannot plan or think long term. Consequently, they usually build one house at a time. In North America or Europe, a developer builds entire streets in an almost assembly line fashion. “Kiwi ingenuity” has not grasped this concept. Moreover, Kiwi builders and tradesmen actually command a wage much higher than their ability, further forcing prices upward. I have always raised this issue with insipid Kiwis, who often retort that it is best that each house is “individual”. They do not understand that a developer can build hundreds of homes with unique floor plans.
The high property prices, which the Kiwi media extol, act as a humongous anchor on economic progress. High property prices signify that shops must pay higher rents, which they invariably pass on to their consumers through higher prices. Kiwis have a simpleton mentality incapable of understanding how things percolate down the line. They cheer high property prices, but do not realise that they pay for these higher prices in other ways. In short, the economy operates like a giant ponzi scheme. The insiders that bought property decades ago benefit whilst the rest of the society toils in peonage. A similar thing is happening on New Zealand farms, but New Zealand farmers are too busy trying to hawk their expensive farms to another farmer foolish enough to pay more than they did. The agricultural sector, which brings in most of the country’s foreign currency, faces a dire situation where the average farmer makes perhaps NZ 40,000 – $50,000 after paying interest on a debt of millions. This is happening at a time of high food prices. If food prices plummet or New Zealand experiences an outbreak of mad cow, then it will wipe out most farmers and the country by extension.
Overall, the New Zealand government oversells this country. It does have nice scenery, although places like Alaska, British Columbia, or South America are far more stunning. It does have some good points. For example, New Zealand is generally safe and I do think some Kiwis are good people on some level. Unfortunately, many Kiwis are uncouth, stupid, too drunk, and too conceited. My Kiwi wife and I cannot see ourselves living in this country or raising our future kids in the land of tall poppy syndrome.
Metaphorically, New Zealand is a nation of sheep. Kiwis are highly naive and lack astuteness. Perhaps no better example illustrates this than the EQC debacle. We still have EQC and the New Zealand government praising themselves for their great response, when the reality is that EQC have failed miserably. The organisation is corrupt and screwed over much of New Zealand, yet people still praise the safety net! The people who have most vociferously combated and denounced this mess are overwhelmingly the foreigners. It has been three years, yet many people in Christchurch continue to live in broken houses and some are without flush toilets. They are unwilling to fight or take any initiative, so they deserve their government.
I do not regret my time here, as it has opened my eyes in many respects. Most importantly, I met my lovely Kiwi wife. Unlike 90% of women here, she is feminine, attractive, personably, pleasant, beautiful, and a real gem. However, she is of Swiss extraction, so she is distinct to the local Kiwis. I noticed something different about her and she noticed I was different to the local men. It was a match made in heaven.
My wife said she liked me because unlike Kiwi men, I have ambition and drive. She said I also had manners and dressed well. One noticeable thing about New Zealand is the overall boorishness and slovenliness of the people. The largest retailer is a place called The Warehouse. It is the equivalent of Wal-Mart, but sells shoddy goods that even Wal-Mart would not carry. Never buy anything from there.
At any rate, my wife and I have grown tired of New Zealand and we are voting with our feet. As I post this, we are boarding the plane from Auckland that will take us to Europe. We are eagerly looking forward to living in Switzerland with its culture, perfectionism, and the world’s highest wages. It will be great to live in a place where trains run on time and where actual standards exist. The Swiss extol excellence unlike the Kiwis who are inherently suspicious of anyone with a modicum of intelligence, beauty, talent, or money.
In the meantime, the vampires that have ruined a country with tremendous potential can remain there mooching off each other. I would encourage any prospective migrant to visit and carefully consider the country because New Zealand markets itself very well, but seldom delivers the goods. Our only loss is that we have about one bedroom’s apartment worth of quality furniture that we bought and had to sell. I never risked our money and we do not have any kids yet, so it is easy to escape from here. Other migrants have spent all their savings coming here and they now lack the means to extricate themselves from this backwater. I would urge any reader to heed their warnings and learn the lessons from others to avoid succumbing to the same mistakes.”
Anon.
end.
Twitter conversation about a quote from this Migrant Tale
Related current events story (Sept 2015)
Estate Agent Bret Glazer Blames Migrants for “Ruining” New Zealand
If you’re about to emigrate to New Zealand, bringing hundreds of thousands of dollars with you for a home purchase, you may care to know what a local estate agent thinks about you. Bret Glazer, from Barfoot and Thompson, wrote on Facebook that migrants were “making it harder for Kiwis to thrive” which is a bit rich considering most of his income arises from migrant home purchases.
But wait, there’s more! According to Bret Glazer, migrants come to New Zealand because they fucked up their own countries. Strange, only yesterday we said migrants come to New Zealand because they wanted to sort out its problems…read on
Related articles
- Migrant Tales – Do not teach in New Zealand you may live to regret it (e2nz.org)
- Migrant workforce key in the new NZ (nzherald.co.nz)
- Share the Benefit of Your Experience (e2nz.org)
- Aussies unlikely to remove bias against migrants despite PM declaring NZ is ‘family’ (keanewzealand.wordpress.com)
- Migrant Tales – British Sparkie Can’t Find Work (e2nz.org)
- Migrant Tales – British Cop in Northland: NZ’s “Crime Statistics a Work of Fiction” (e2nz.org)
- Migrant Tales – The UK Plumber’s Tale (e2nz.org)
- Migrant Tales – Hong Kong Chinese: Moving to New Zealand is a Big Mistake (e2nz.org)
- Migrant Tales – Binge Drinking The Bane Of The Culture And NZ Is A Nation of ‘MJ’ Smokers (e2nz.org)
- Migrant Tales – NZ Not The Land Of Promise For Me (e2nz.org)
E2NZ.org 
[Deleted, don’t troll. Admin]
In my opinion this is the best article on the whole site. You have accurately and objectively described the experience in an extremely well written and well thought out manner. I wish you all the best in the future.
New Zealand will leave a very bitter taste in my mouth that’s for sure. Brought my business over here 6 years ago from the UK, have not asked for a cent since being here, paid upwards of half a million bucks into the system with taxes/GST/wages for Kiwi employees etc etc, and have just had an email from immigration (as I applied for residency 4 months ago) stating and I quote, that the business I am running is not a benefit to New Zealand and it is unlikely to be approved!!! I have paid my way over here, made new jobs for kiwi born residents, paid all my taxes with a smile, and this is how they treat you at the end of it all!!! This is not a bitter rant, well, it is a wee bit, BUT, anyone reading this and thinking of setting up in New Zealand, please take note, you can do everything by the book and then some, and still not be good enough for them. I think of the money I have pumped in to the economy whilst being here, to support the ferals who will never contribute anything, and then get told I am not worthy to stay here. 6 years!!! 6 years I have been here and this is how they treat you. Do yourselves a favour, stay where you are, the grass is not always greener on the other side!!!
Similar experience happened to me , even the word boorish is not enough to give it a tag.Penny pinching boorish farmers who can nothing but pluck the land , the people , the minds, and now the tourists. I remember last time I was there this expression ” tourist trade” really annoyed me to death. It is like the sheep trade , the dairy trade , the building boom trade , and now the tourist ” trade” . You ‘re just another commodity that comes to mind where all other ” resources ” have been leeched empty, in the absence of added value manufacturing. I think this mindset will never end.I think it is ” bad protection” that this has happened to you. In my case I have learned to see it as ” bad protection” and has given me the drive to reorganise my life , instead of wasting it in this superficially , patheticly , overrated small country , that has no clue , never had , never will. For most non- first world migrants , this country may work to a degree , but for the others it is several steps down the ladder. I donot wish this country any success in the future , instead I hope it will ultimately pay for its dark character in whatever way. They are already doing so in their daily agony to make ends meet in their ponzi scheme real estate neurosis, wait till rates rise!Advice : Stay clear.
Can anyone tell me why John Key the PM of a small isolated couple of Islands at the edge of the World gets to stand up & tell the World that the conflict in Syria (The 3rd world War) has to stop ? What is he doing in New York trying to play ”World Statesman”.Shouldnt he be here trying to sort out why KIwis cant afford to Buy Houses in their own Country anymore ? NZ has barely got an Army, Airforce & Navy to speak of and No N.Z Soldiers are fighting in Syria (That the public knows of), so how does John get to Play the ”New Zealands going to save the World- ” Again” card” ?? Is it just because he played Golf with Barack ? or because Johns real role as an NWO Masonic- illuminati puppet deceiver called for him to catch the next flight outa what was once ”Godsown”, before John & his Satanic conspirators got the go ahead to turn the Country into a 3rd World Toilet ? Has the erection of the Syrian ”ARCH OF BAAL” in New York really opened a Satanic portal as John & his mates are hoping ??
Ive been planning my exit for the last 2 years, and then June 23rd happened…..
I will not return to the UK and do not want to remain in NZ.
But sadly the madness that infected the UK in June 2016 has f**ked up my plans.
[Deleted, read the rules. Your opening ad hom attack marred an otherwise credible comment. Admin]
I only wish I had read this thread and/or forum before agreeing to move to New Zealand with my partner. He owns a business here, which has only lost money for years and years. I gave up my established and lucrative career to come here and help him. I have been completely shocked at the lack of work ethic, mischievousness of employees and contractors, and utter anger of the employees when we have made changes required to make the company profitable. I knew things were wrong before we came, but no doubt has been left in my mind as to the inadequacies of the staff and previous management, which are clearly described above. Sadly, almost everything I read in this thread I have found to be true in my experience here. It nearly broke me and my relationship. I am not sure even if I had read this previously would it have changed the decision, but I at least would have been armed with the tools to see what was going on beforehand and would have handled things differently. I am only blessed and thankful that we can escape, unlike some other of our friends we have made here. They are in so deep; they cannot get out. I have learned some valuable lessons from this experience and gained new skills, as well. All is not lost. I have seen some indescribable natural beauty and made a couple of friends. It has and continues to be a journey, yet I know we will ultimately be able to walkaway if we make that choice.
This undescribable beauty , I have seen it with my own eyes here in our own European Alps , this summer touring Northern Italy and Austria. You want to have it all? Austria . With at your doorsteps landscapes in Croatia and seascapes I have never seen in NZ (where every farmer has a lifestyle block on a clear cut swathe of land bordering the sea devoid of the last patch of endemic flora and poisoned to the roots) Why donot people more clearly articulate how deforested and bare NZ really is. It is something like the lie may not die….the weather is annoyingly instable and cool and always windy….absolutely UN mediterranean…love it there.
Life after New Zealand
It has been two and a half years since my wife and I left New Zealand for a better life in Switzerland. I have already chronicled my disappointing and slightly lamentable experience in New Zealand https://e2nz.org/goodbye-new-zealand/ after immigrating to New Zealand from the United States. Suffice it to say, the veracity of this blog’s tales is unquestionable. Any person interested in migrating to New Zealand should read these tales and perhaps avoid a great deal of suffering, both personal and financial, by refraining from immigrating to New Zealand. My aim is not to gloat, but rather, to provide encouragement and inspiration to those that remain trapped in the mire of New Zealand so that they can plan to extricate themselves.
Leaving New Zealand was remarkably easy and one of our best decisions. My wife and I are minimalists, so there was not much to sell or give away. We shipped about a dozen boxes containing personal effects and bought two one-way tickets back to our ancestral lands in Europe. My wife was a New Zealand-born Swiss citizen, so the process of obtaining her Swiss passport and my work permit was straightforward. My wife had to go to Wellington to have her biometric details taken and I applied for my entry visa in the post. The staff at the Swiss embassy were extremely professional and helpful. Unsurprisingly, any dealings with the Swiss government are like the renowned Swiss watches and clocks.
I recall our indescribable joy when my wife’s bright red Swiss passport arrived in the post. The little red booklet symbolised opportunity and the chance to live in the world’s greatest country and to have a fresh start after battling trying to find a niche in life in New Zealand.
Arriving and settling in Switzerland was relatively simple. We found a shared place on Airbnb for the first ten days and subsequently we found another shared place for two months to give us the flexibility to apply and relocate for jobs throughout Switzerland.
My wife was the first one of us to find a job. In fact, she received a job offer in Basel within ten days of arriving in her ancestral country. I still recall vividly the look of astonishment and joy when she opened her offer letter and saw her starting salary. Her salary was triple what she had earned in Wellington and more than our combined income in New Zealand. At age twenty-three, she had a position with a great deal of responsibly that would have been unattainable in New Zealand.
The feeling of success was exhilarating. The first two months were challenging because my wife’s job required commuting 2.5 hours to work each way and we had already signed our temporary two-month lease. However, we quickly managed to find a nice apartment in a small town between Zurich and Basel rendering my wife’s commute much shorter. The rent costs of our apartment in Switzerland were about the same as the small house where we lived in Wellington. However, this apartment had central heating, hardwood floors, and was of far better quality than what we had in New Zealand. Unlike New Zealand rental dwellings, the apartment was spotless when we moved in. The two times that we needed repairs, the rental agency had someone out within twenty-four hours. In both cases, the agency replaced the older washing machine and refrigerators with brand new ones. My wife enjoyed living in a dwelling with central heating for the first time in her life. It could snow outside, yet our apartment was a pleasant 20/21 C.
In the meantime, I studied German and searched for a job whilst my wife worked. I had the fortuity to be choosy and search for the right opportunity rather than taking what was available as I had to when I moved to New Zealand. I will always be immensely grateful to my wife for finding a job so quickly and enabling me to improve my German and search for the right opportunity. It took me approximately eight months to find a job, but I eventually landed an awesome position paying more than triple what I had earned at my last job in New Zealand, which was supposedly a good salary for New Zealand. Unlike my jobs in New Zealand, I worked with many intelligent people from around the world and I had the opportunity to do interesting work and receive outstanding remuneration. My work environment did not have the stultifying tall poppy syndrome that was so endemic in New Zealand. I was able to use the three languages I knew (English, Spanish, and German) on a daily basis. The opportunities here are far better than in New Zealand.
Despite our incomes more than trebling, we paid a lower amount of tax in percentage terms in Switzerland compared to New Zealand, yet the level of public services here is superb and far better. For example, the Swiss public transport system is the envy of the world. We did not buy a car until two years after arriving when my wife’s pregnancy necessitated the expense. If we should have the misfortune to lose our jobs, the unemployment insurance would pay 80% of our salary for up to eighteen months. It is amazing how Switzerland can collect a lower percentage of GDP in taxes, yet provide a far better safety net. The fact that Switzerland has far fewer people sponging off the social system and that the government is very pro-business with low taxes has a great deal to do with it. The Swiss are also diligent workers who know how to things efficiently. New Zealand is a country where one out of five citizens has emigrated, usually the better end of the population, because of the utter dearth of opportunities whereas Switzerland is a country where one in four workers is foreign. Every day, more than 300,000 people commute from the surrounding countries to work in Switzerland. Switzerland is an economic superpower, yet the Swiss are much more reserved and circumspect. One does not see the Swiss boasting nor has anyone in Switzerland ever made a disparaging comment about Americans, as was the case in New Zealand. It is also nice that no one here makes you pre-pay for anything. If I order a book online, the invoice comes with the book. The dentist and mechanic send us invoices at home once they complete the work. Compare this to the vampires in New Zealand who cannot wait to grab your money and run off with it without doing their job properly. Employers also treat you like an adult. No one monitors how many hours you work or watches over you like a hawk, yet somehow the Swiss have the most productive economy in the world.
Switzerland also has far more to do than New Zealand. During the past two years, we have travelled extensively throughout Switzerland thanks to the inexpensive subsidised public transport. Switzerland has an annual GA ticket that allows one unlimited use of the trains, buses, and boats throughout the country. My wife and I took countless day and weekend trips throughout this amazing and spellbindingly beautiful country. Moreover, we have been to many European countries such as France, Germany, UK, Ireland, Belgium, Netherlands, Sweden, Russia, Austria, Czech Republic and Greece in addition to an epic trip to Japan. Travelling in Europe is much more inexpensive than travelling within New Zealand thanks to budget airlines such as EasyJet and Ryan Air. A roundtrip flight from Switzerland to the UK can cost as little as Fr 50(NZ $75) if one books in advance. Contrary to popular myth, living costs are relatively reasonable, much more so than in New Zealand. If one organises oneself well and knows where to look, the living costs are extremely reasonable. This jeweller seems to think so after she announced that she is relocating her business from Auckland to Geneva because Auckland’s commercial rents are higher http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/79258617/ponsonby-store-owner-and-rock-widow-ditches-auckland-for-cheaper-rents-in-switzerland.
One can enjoy so many things here such as great food, interesting museums, and the paved bike trails that crisscross the entire country. This afternoon, I went to a nice restaurant with my wife and enjoyed far better food and a restaurant with nicer facilities than what is available in New Zealand. Afterward, I will ride my bike and enjoy a sunny Sunday evening ride.
It is also refreshing to see how well maintained everything is compared to the dilapidated state of things in New Zealand. We have access to superb medical care and an education system that is one of the best in the world. We have also started to look for a home to buy now that our first child, a daughter, will arrive in the coming days. Our daughter will not have to live in a cold damp house or grow up with preventable asthma, as many kids do in New Zealand. Our daughter will also be able to grow up multilingual and with a perspective that would have been exceedingly difficult to obtain amongst the cretins, drunks, and morons in New Zealand.
Overall, Switzerland promised us nothing, yet delivered what New Zealand promised, but could not deliver. I have never seen the Swiss run a racket that encourages migrants to come here, unlike New Zealand. I can comfortably raise a family and have money to save as the sole breadwinner, which would have been virtually impossible in New Zealand. We are thrilled to be here and I am looking forward to applying for my Swiss citizenship next year. Our Swiss daughter will have the opportunity to grow up in the world’s greatest country with fantastic opportunities that she would not have in the United States and especially in New Zealand.
I wish those who are stuck in New Zealand and desperate to leave the best of luck. Remaining in New Zealand has a corrosive effect on people’s psyche and spirit. In other words, those who are stuck in New Zealand often imagine that it is more difficult to leave than it actually is. They often impose obstacles in their minds that in reality do not exist. I encourage those who no longer wish to be there to plan and execute their exit strategy. As Arthur Schopenhauer said, “man mistakes the limits of his own vision for the limits of the world”. One has nothing to lose but the chains that bind one in New Zealand and a world to gain.
Hallo , may I greet you from the Netherlands. And may I thank you for the really outstanding description of your experiences. As a matter of fact my story and yours are very very similar. I have lived in NZ in the early 90ies , and have left with my partner for what you so perfectly say ” Switzerland did not promise nothing but delivered ( for us on a grand scale) , whereas NZ promised what it was unwilling to deliver. My partner and I had top education but of course was declared waste in NZ . We have left NZ and moved to Switzerland where my partner could enroll in a private school and I could work in my profession instantaneously. Think about it that in Switzerland I could work in a top level environment , and there was no questioning of my skills acquired in the Netherlands , a country comparable to Switzerland in many regards. We still had the illusion to go back to NZ within the time frame of 4 years in order not to lose our permanent residency. My partner needed 3 months more at the ( very costly) private school ,because of managerial changes in this school . We reported this to the NZ Consulate in Geneva , who sent us a deplorable reply , that we had lost our right to return to NZ. Imagine this , it is tantamount to boorish arrogance. We have stayed and worked in Switzerland for almost 9 years. The big advantage was that we had good proficiency in German , and French , and therefore could focus on our lives from the beginning. Despite our very! good lives in Switzerland we have returned to the Netherlands , because this country is just more vibrant to live. We have early retired at age 54 , and belong to the top 2 % financially. Put this in contrast to how a country the size of a Chinese suburb has abused and ridiculized our very core, despite the best of intentions , it is easy to understand that we clearly sympathize with your views. It is spot on! I have little sympathy left for NZ, industrially over touted and oversold, where they would sell their daughter for a paltry dollar , in order to attain instant gratification. I weekly read the NZ Herald and clearly know what moves NZ. There is an atmosphere of silly snobbism , and a misplaced sense of wealth. Wealth through a corrupt immigration system that is keen to import migrants , as long as they prop up the real estate with cash. As long as the “Gooks” pay more for their lumber they are tolerated , that ‘s the way they actually reason in that incapable government .Are these migrants complying with the myriad of requirements , I doubt it , but they bring in cash , the new raw material after cutting and slashing all the native flora.For the rest I have only encountered a ” culture” weary of the slightest signal of excellence. I have so long dreamed to go back to NZ because it can all not be true. But it really is the truth . NZ is not worth investing time and money and most of all emotions. It is a raped pillaged disfigured abused , burnt down , overfertilized and poisoned country that merely is a shadow of it long gone natural splendour. A mindset of unfathomable short sightedness and inherently deplorable arrogance . It is interesting to see how this country will consume its resources fast in order to satisfy their snobbish aspirations without any industrial diversification other than selling and flipping lumber to new substrate , called migrants , the last grand scale commodity boom in NZ. No life in this continent is the best you can get I have discovered not too late fortunately. I wish both of you a well deserved brilliant future in my beautiful continent Europe. To be fair I want to add that I have met many warm hearted Kiwis , for whom I felt sorry to live in their vicious circle of non-attainment. We had the power , prowess and cultural bagage that they declared void on their island , but that was key to a standard of living and a plethora of life experiences they would be unable to imagine.
I agree workers are good, and some management is below par, – too many managers at times. I think at times we don’t make use of the skills a talented overseas person can bring. They find it hard to get anywhere, because a lot of companies would prefer the status quo, and these skilled people seeing no opportunity here move on to greener pastures, they just don’t want to end up driving taxis.
@admin could you please contact me
thanks very much
Michael
Hear Hear….NZ should be sold on the world stage as a test of ones ability to test ones susceptibility to chronic depression…I was born in the uk and lived there for 22yrs before following my parents to NZ in 1989 in the hope that a job and prospects would be better…( i stayed for 20 yrs)..The first 15 yrs were good as I had to learn to survive on the unemployment benefit while doing the right amount of part time work so as not to counter act my benefit rights( they don’t teach those economics at school) eventually found a career that after a year led to me being able to go self-employed and thanks to my friendly accountant learnt how to ride and dodge giving my money to the politician train. Also during this time I learnt how to handle depression and not to expect much. Then followed (at 37yrs of age) the meeting my wife and having one child…living a sustainable existence(just)then in 2008 moved to Perth. WOW what a difference ..good wages for both of us. Good weather(ill take 2 months of too hot over 9 months of rain any day)Positive energy due to a much leveller playing field. Properly built houses. Much less gang mentality. After 2 years starting my own business and the wife landing the position she had studied hard for and getting paid correctly for. We have a good 4by2 home with a pool built brand new 1 yr ago totally finished with aircon etc. it was $530k au..I feel that I have reached as high as I need too and would be happy for my daughter and any child or children she may have to be in the same situation. Having enough is great.
I visited my folks in NZ this Xmas after 7 years away ..I will not be going back. Its all been said on this site and its all true.NZ is a farce a delusion its one of the biggest ongoing self fabricated delusions on the planet.
Its going to be entertaining following its demise over the next few years. Enough said.
Yes, you’re dead right – there’s no opportunity here, – I’ve applied for loads of jobs, have good skills, don’t even get a response back 85% of the time. I even offered to do a paper delivery run, but I was told I was too old, – yet no one is delivering our local free paper and they advertise vacancies every week for months – they want someone young to do it, but can’t anyone to do it. It’s difficult to get away from the mindset.
A friend of mine, a transport planner from London tried unsuccessfully to get work here for two years. He applied to Qatar, and got a job within two weeks – great pay and prospects. He could never get past the old boy club, who you know rather than what you know.
any advice for those still in nz on exit plans?
Eat ramin for a year, save every penny, buy a ticket, get out. It really does not get any better. Once you’ve figured it out to be crap, it stays crap.
Does anyone know what the law is regarding leaving NZ with debt? I moved here a year ago and got into debt just to pay living costs as work slowed down. I have just found out that NZ has a debter prison system where they arrest debters at the airport and imprison them if they can’t pay. Is this for foreign/ migrant workers as well as New Zealanders? It hasn’t gone to court yet, so should I leave immediately before it does? I can’t believe they have laws like Saudi Arabia. It is very worrying. Any advice would be appreciated.
From a tall poppy kiwi living overseas. (And NOT going back). I have to say that summed up my country very well. You got one thing incorrect though. New Zealand IS generally safe UNLESS you live in a lower socio economic area. If you are unfortunate enough to live in one of these its NOT safe at all. Maori children wander the streets at night stealing anything that is not tied down including robbing other children of their sneakers and jackets. (Dont let your nicely dressed teens out after dark!!) My house was burgled 3 times and my car was broken into 4 times while it was parked on my own property. All in the space of two years. The world has labeled the maori one of the most entrepreneurial races. This is because a large percentage of them are thieves. This is not a racial slur, its just they way they view things. They are not stealing it, just ‘borrowing’ it. Unfortunatly the item is never returned.
The current Govt is doing nothing to change nepotism and seems hell bent on making it easier for the big cooporations and wealthy to get even wealthier. Its forcing many into poverty. They have sold every State Owned Enterprise that our parents and grandparents worked hard to pay for. Even the prisons are now run by a private company!
We have a high rate of domestic abuse. The police do nothing. Children and babies are murdered on a regular basis and because no person is willing to point the finger at the killer the crime goes unsolved and unpunished.
The police are a joke. If their IQ is higher than 95 they cant get into the police force!!
Other nationalities are often despised because they bring ‘new’ to the table. Parochialism runs rife in NZ. Personally I loved meeting people from other countries as it gave me a change to hear other views.
The electricity bill for a four person family beggars belief. Its charged monthy and is usually around $250 – $400 per month. This includes a $50 (ish) service charge. Phone and internet is as equally expensive.
There is a nasty reverse rasism thing going on as well. Children are often forced to learn Maori at school, adults are required to answer the phone in Maori and a white person in the street may well be abused for being white. My son was continually harrassed by the maori children at his school because he was blond and intellectually advanced. He was often beaten and abused and the schools do not have the resources to curb the attrocities. These bullies are usually backed up with a group of ‘extended family’ members and it doesnt pay to annoy them, things just get worse with the young adult members making your life hell outside of school and they often choose to target your whole family as well. When this happens the police do little, Maoris are skilled liars and just swear black and blue that they know nothing, did nothing and that you are making everything up. As many of the police are Maori, and often related to the bullies in small towns nothing gets done. Until the bullies family claim your family is growing pot in the back yard and you get raided at dawn by the same police!!
Wearing your PJs and your fluffy animal slippers to town is a common occurance, these may be purchased at ‘The Warehouse’, affectionatly known as the wurry furry. (A play on Maori pronunciation). The quality is disgusting but the prices are cheap and a great source of all things good for the lower socio economic. Especially so because they are hiring all the local Maori at minimum wage so its a family reunion at the same time.
NZ is NOT 100% Pure. Its a dirty little country where Fonterra poison many rivers from their dairy product production and the Govt agency for conservation poison the land and all native life indiscriminately with 1080 poison on an annual basis. Councils charge a small body part to dispose of rubbish so many cant afford it and just save it up to dump it in the bush a couple of times a year. The river mouths are disgusting and many are piled high with garbage. You dont see this because you always go to the beaches and not the esturies.
Wages are very very poor with most of the population earning minimum or just above and its well below the breadline. You cant afford to live there unless you are in a well paid job or are prepared to lie cheat and steal to supplement your income. Its a great place to be a criminal, the police are stupid and as long as you are smart, you wont be caught.
There is a great welfare system. If you are a single parent you are allowed to collect the DPB. (Dependant Parent Benefit) The more kids you have the more govt support you get. The lower socio economic folks just keep popping out more children as this supplements the poker machines, alcohol and smokes the parent consumes while many of their children are wandering the streets barefoot and in rags while their parents are in the pub. If that is not enough cash you can always go and work for cash and supplement that income. The chances of being caught are minimal and most do it.
NZ has its own oil refinery but petrol is over $2 per litre, and if the price of oil goes down the petrol prices do not reflect it.
We export tons and tons of dairy product, beef and lamb around the world but it costs more to purchase in NZ than anywhere else in the world!
The drivers are rude, agressive and the worst Ive ever found world wide. Kiwis are not good at being considerate of others on the road. (Or many others places either)
Overseas qualifications are not recognised and many highly skilled people are woefully employed in inferior positions well under their skill level with managers that have little to no qualifications. We need the skills from overseas but refuse to recognise them! WTF? I know of a highly skilled nurse who is packing shelves in a supermarket and NZ is screaming out for nurses.
Corruption is rife at all levels. Cops cant be bribed nowadays tho as they get bonuses for booking you.
They also have a quota system that gives the police further incentive to book you for a non existing traffic violation. The Prime Minister (known as Donkey) is being caught out in lies on an almost daily basis and has been caught touching woman (who didnt want it) and no one does anything about it. The only reason he has not been voted out is because his actions continue to make the house prices go up and most Kiwis are blinded by this. It makes them feel rich when the truth is that its making everything go up in price and they are actually worse off.
New Zealand has been well marketed to appear to be something it really isnt. Dont believe the lies.
After ten years I cant take anymore. The majority of kiwis, both Moiré and white are great, the system here absolutely sucks! Iv sold my house, packed up my business and I’m off. I will miss my great friends here, but the health care , IRD, Local and national government system’s…………..Good reddens to one of the worst I have ever come across in a developed country!
I sincerely thank you for sharing the in-depth analysis on the hidden reality of New Zealand. I wish this article helps to reduce the number of possible victims.
Yes ,you nailed it ,there’s a lot more to add and I’m sure the writer knows this however this should serve as an accurate warning to any potential migrant,well done .
Wow! After nine years of struggling to make it in New Zealand I finally have read one of the most thorough analyses of life here. The problem is Kiwis want to think they are world class, without haveing ever been into the world. I sat on a science review panel where I reviewed 16 applications. Of those I suggested only 2 be funded because they were so shoddy. But, because of hte old boys network, 8 were funded, and all were based on lies. When the Chair was alerted to this fact, he said it didn’t matter.
New Zealand is a beautiful place to visit, but unless you are part of the club, a farmer or other busienssman, you can forget any sort of quality of life, unless it consists of sitting on a beach and having a barbeque.
This has been an eye opener for me and has cost me dearly in more ways than I can count. YEs a beautiful country, but I am writing this as I sit at the airport awaiting my flight for my return to the States. The US is far from perfect, but NZ is a land of delusion.
And Graham, Willie Wonkie is right in that your attitude is pretty indicative of the atitude of Kiwis who never left NZ. If you look, every successful Kiwi that is lauded, has done so by LEAVING NZ.
I was born and (mostly) bred in NZ. Have lived in all 3 main centres except Dunedin and Hamilton.
And I couldn’t agree more with this wel written and erudite article.
Best analysis of life in New Zealand I’ve ever read. All would-be migrants should read this before coming!
Graham; you show yourself to be a perfect example of a Kiwi….
& Frank Lind; you’re absolutely correct; it IS a brilliant analysis, and an accurate one too…
BTW Wee Willie Wonkie is a Yank and retired career military 12 years into NZ, hoping to soon to bail out pending the results of the 2016 EL-ections in the U.S.
NZ is full of liars and deceptive people who would rather exert energy and time to avoid work or disparage & slander someone, than be productive, helpful and resourceful. The young women are especially abrasive, rude and unbecoming. The men are competitive, obstructive and probably brain damaged from alcohol, drugs and bashed temporal and frontal lobes as a result of the national game of Thugby.
The rural Decile 10 schools are horrible places, with snobbish, arrogant parents who one day will have their asses kicked if & when NZ is invaded by a foreign military force. The universities & NZQA do not recognise advanced education & qualifications from other countries, so many move on to Oz or the UK / Canada.
2017 can’t come fast enough for our family…
A very well written, intelligent, incisive and perceptive analysis. As someone who has lived here for many years, although not really having a choice, – it’s good to see such balanced thinking without bias – there’s no vested interest,so you can tell it how it is.
What an intelligent Yank. I’m surprised with his amazing brain he is not running for President.
He would have to be better than most of the morons that have previously held the job.Or would he ? as he seems to spend most of his time and i’m sure his employers time being a totally negative dick head. ( Not surprising he doesn’t fit in the work place.
Go back to the USA where they pay such great wages With people earning as low as $4.50 an hour, then he could happily live in the most hated country in the world even by it’s so-called friends.As for speaking English has this half wit ever been to the southern states where basically no one can understand there so called English.
Certainly New Zealand and probably most of the rest of the world would be better off without this moron.
Er…say that again?
Did the overall IQ of NZ rise when you left for Australia?
(Banned for trolling and for being a semi-literate bore)
Admin was wise to leave your comment,the writer hasn’t mentioned the culture of revenge which exists here in N.Z ,some would say that all Kiwis are apathetic ,the truth is that due to the tall poppy syndrome ,some of us are aware that to speak out against this grotesque and dysfunctional society will lead to repercussions .The repercussions could be State sanctioned such as the Police or IRD or just social isolation .Many of us just keep our heads down and our eye on escaping in one piece.I mean imagine running into the author Graham here when he was drunk and high and full of misplaced patriotism ,I’m sure Graham has never really experienced the beauty of life which doesn’t involve oppression from the N.Z business cartels and N.Z government .Graham will no doubt never experience a conversation beyond Rugby and how cold it is right now and indeed Graham will continue to believe N.Z invented everything and are the best in the world,lifestyle here is way better than being a prisoner in China etc.
Encounters with drunken kiwis increases the chances of violence. Lower inhibitions allows less filtered responses. I’ve had guys come from the other side of public houses come over towards me before they’ve been dissuaded. And yes, they feel as though they have you at a numerical disadvantage when you are on their home turf. Less of a chance of aggression with kiwis out of their country .
A brilliant analysis. Kudos my friend.